


Puma (but it was just my cat)

by haosmullet, Wheres_my_badger



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Soobin and Taehyun's cat, Sorry we made you suffer, Taehyun enjoys seeing Soobin suffer, Umbrellas, Yeonjun is a sugar daddy, Yeonjun is too but he's less obvious, a mess, and less panicked, but he could be, but look how it turned out, confident gay Yeonjun, funny af, kidding he isn't, lots of internal screaming, love you, or maybe we're just stupid, panicked gay Soobin, soobin is whiPPED, this was supposed to be cute and serious, we would like to formally apologize to Soobin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24782107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haosmullet/pseuds/haosmullet, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wheres_my_badger/pseuds/Wheres_my_badger
Summary: Now, Soobin isn't superstitious, but he's starting to think the universe has something against him.ORWe took the prompt "I was the poor loser you lent an umbrella too yesterday, my cat scratched the fabric open, and I'm so sorry" and made a mess.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

The sound of heavy rain echoed through Soobin’s ears as he shakily tried to open the front door to his apartment. He threw his belongings to the floor, not caring about where they were landing, and carefully placed the navy blue umbrella he carried besides his front door. Soobin made his way to the sofa, seeking for the comfort it would surely give to his desperate self. Lying down, Soobin stared at the ceiling. A second later he grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, thanking heaven Taehyun still wasn't home to see him in this state.

Now, you may be wondering: why the hell was Soobin screaming at his ceiling all by himself on a rainy day? Well, his frustration had a name and a surname. Choi Yeonjun. When Soobin chose photography as his elective, he expected to have a nice semester in an easy class which he would enjoy and easily pass. He was not prepared for the weekly torture that was sharing a class with the one who should not be named. Not that Yeonjun was a bad person, far from that, actually. He was actually kind, caring, sweet and very, very fucking handsome. And that was the whole problem.

Having a ridiculous crush on his classmate would not be a problem, not at all. If Soobin did not completely shut down his Windows’ system every time Yeonjun came into his line of sight. And that was very often in that semester, for Soobin’s therapist's despair. But that really wasn't the problem right now. The problem is the umbrella resting by his door. The umbrella Choi Yeonjun had just lent him half an hour earlier.

The fact that Yeonjun even lent him that cursed umbrella was shocking to him, on its own. Even though Soobin paid tons of attention to Yeonjun's every single move, they weren’t close. In reality, they had barely spoken to each other more than simple ‘hello’s or ‘good morning’s. So, Yeonjun's sudden approach and kind gesture confused Soobin. He also may or may not have stared at the street for five or so minutes after Yeonjun walked away, brain trying to reload, but no one needed to know about that.

Soobin was pretty sure the universe hated him, too. He never left the house without an umbrella, ever. Except Taehyun had gotten home late from a party the night before and completely ignored all of his alarms. Soobin, being the great friend he was, tried to wake the younger up. But Taehyun didn't want to get out of bed, and then he begged Soobin to help him with his outfit for the day, and then when they noticed it they were both late for class. Needless to say they didn't really double check their belongings before rushing out of their shared dorm room. When Soobin realised he didn't have his umbrella with him it was already too late to go back.

A ripping sound brought Soobin out of his thoughts. He took the pillow away from his face and blinked rapidly, trying to get used to the light. His eyes, then, zeroed on the umbrella. Which was no longer propped against the wall, but was instead on the floor. With Soobin's cat on top of it.

Taehyun opened the door carefully, having heard some strange noises from the hallway, only to be met with an… interesting scene. Read: a very distressed Soobin, holding their cat up to his face, total despair in his eyes. 

"Hyung…" Taehyun started, with a low voice. “What are you doing?"

Soobin turned to him, a maniac look in his eyes, and Taehyun noticed that his hair looked a bit like he had put his finger on a socket. He looked right into Taehyun's eyes. And screamed. Taehyun did the only thing he could think of. He screamed back.

“WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING AT ME?!”

"THIS DEMON RIPPED YEONJUN'S UMBRELLA!" The cat in Soobin’s hand seemed more scared than anyone inside that room. The umbrella looked completely destroyed on the floor. “TELL ME HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO HIM?! I DON’T EVEN TALK TO HIM?!”

"WHO THE FUCK IS YEONJUN?"

“WELL, NOW HE IS MY EX FUTURE BOYFRIEND!”

At this point Taehyun, though, it might be better to stop screaming. Soobin wasn't making any sense and was clearly distressed, and Taehyun was not in the mood to get a noise complaint.

"Ok, how about we make some tea, relax a little, and you explain to me what happened?"

"Is it magical tea? Will it fix the umbrella? If not, then no, thanks."

Taehyun stared at him for a second, then nodded.  
"Ok. I'll go make some tea. Non-magical, sorry. Please, leave the cat alone for now."

Taehyun let out a silent relieved sigh when Soobin put the cat down. Soobin stayed where he was, unmoving, staring blankly at the umbrella. He looked a bit like he might start screaming again, but there was nothing Taehyun could do about that, so he left to start preparing their tea. 

Luckily, Soobin didn't start screaming again. Once Taehyun was finished with the tea and went back to the couch, he found Soobin sitting down - taking baby steps here - and staring at the umbrella, still - really, though, baby steps.

"So..." Taehyun decided to try and have that conversation again. “Let's try this again. All I got from your screaming was that Misty ripped Yeonjun's umbrella."

Soobin nodded. "Yup." He sipped on his tea, taking a deep breath, seeming traumatized.

"And who exactly is Yeonjun?"

“He is just a guy from my photography class.” 

"Oh! OH! The one you're always stalking on ig, right?"

Soobin glared at him. "I don't stalk him, shut up." Taehyun snorted.

“Sure. And why exactly were you with his umbrella?” 

Soobin looked at him through teary eyes.

"Because he lent it to me," and buried his face on the closest pillow, screaming into it. Well. At least no noise complaint.

"Oh, come on, you can just explain to him what happened. I'm sure he'll understand."

Soobin looked at Taehyun as if preparing to murder him.

"No, I can't. In fact, I can't ever go to that class again. And all because of you."

“Uhn, excuse me? How would that be my fault?”

“If it wasn’t for your lazy ass making me late to class, I would’ve remembered to grab my own umbrella, and Yeonjun wouldn't have needed to lend me his.”

Taehyun snorted. “Yes, sure. Whatever. But the fact here is, you will need to tell Yeonjun about this, eventually. You can't just stop going to class.” 

“Watch me." Taehyun rolled his eyes. Soobin rolled his eyes right back at him, then sat up, smiling. "Or. I could buy him a new umbrella. Identical to his old one."

Taehyun stared at the older in stunned silence.

"Please tell me you're joking."

“Does it seem like I’m joking to you?” Soobin shot Taehyun a deadly stare. “He won’t even notice the difference, and it will be like nothing has ever happened.” 

“I… you know what, I'm not even gonna try to argue with that." He stretched, "I'm going to sleep, now. Goodnight."

Soobin set the plan. He was determined, and he would do that. Nothing could go wrong with that, and since he would only meet Yeonjun again the following week, he would have plenty of time to search for the exact brand and for his order to be delivered on time. It would be alright, there was nothing to worry about, right? 

Convinced that his plan was perfect, Soobin decided to head to bed as well, trying to relax. He could start looking on the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

Soobin had a nice morning. He only had afternoon classes that day, so he had quite some time to look for Yeonjun's umbrella online. He did everything he had to do and got ready for the day, before finally reaching for the cursed remains of the umbrella to look for a brand name. It didn't take him too long to find it. It was written on the very edge of the fabric, on the inside. Pasotti. Funny name. Soobin had never seen it anywhere before.

While searching for the name on Google, and finding the website, that name did not seem much funny anymore. Ok, wait a fucking second. Why the hell would anyone spend 200 euros on a single umbrella? How could he be so fucking unlucky? 

Soobin, now found without a single hope to move on with his life, decided to do what he could on that moment: grab the pillow next to him on the sofa - trying to keep it down, since it was still morning - and scream, once again.

When he opened his eyes again, he came face to face with Taehyun. The younger was standing on the doorway, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, hey, good morning for you too.” Soobin stared at him. "Is this our new greeting? Should I scream too?"

Soobin groaned and threw his pillow at the younger.

"Fuck off."

“Let me guess. Your magical plan did not work?” 

Soobin pouted, "what do I do now?"

“How about you just, I don’t know, that’s just a wild guess here, ok? Maybe you could just... apologize and explain the situation to Yeonjun?” 

"I ruined his 200 euro umbrella, Taehyun! I can't just apologize and explain!"

Taehyun frowned. "Ok, but like… who the fuck wastes 200 euros on an umbrella?" Soobin reached for the pillow again. "No, wait, don't scream. Come on, if he could afford one 200 euro umbrella he can afford another one, right?"

Soobin shook his head, “what if we made a bazar? I have some things I could sell, and we could get enough money to buy a new one…” 

“I don’t remember agreeing to selling my stuff. You were the one stupid enough to let our cat ruin a 200 euro umbrella.”

"Stop reminding me it's a 200 euro umbrella!"

"Ok, stop. Take a deep breath. You have no other choice but to tell him. Worst case scenario he'll hate you forever."

"Has anyone ever told you that you suck at cheering people up?"

“I’m trying here, ok?” 

Soobin shook his head.

"Ok, you know what? I can think about this later. I've got some stuff to do before class, I can't waste my time arguing with you. Plus, I still have, like… a week left to find a way around this mess."

Taehyun simply nodded along, obviously uninterested in Soobin's rambling. "Sure, whatever you say."

Soobin glared.

"I'm going now."

Taehyun finally smiled at him.

"Ok, have a nice day. Try not ruining any more 200 euro umbrellas."

"Oh God, I hate you."

After that morning, Soobin surely hoped he could have a nice day, as Taehyun wished. He tried to keep his mind busy, and out of how he would have to sell his entire house to afford a new umbrella for Yeonjun. He ran the few errands he had for the day and finished them quickly, and then he had quite a bit of time to kill. As he had some homework to finish before his afternoon classes, Soobin decided to stop by the campus cafe, clear his mind. 

Now, Soobin had never been a superstitious person. But he was beginning to think the universe had something against him. Because sitting on a table right at the entrance of the cafe was the man himself: Yeonjun. The first thing Soobin noticed - besides Yeonjun's presence, obviously - were Yeonjun's clothes. Look, don't judge him. The guy had a 200 euro umbrella. Surely his clothes would also be expensive as fuck.

Unfortunately, Soobin didn't have much time to look, because when he got to Yeonjun's upper body he noticed someone was staring at him. That someone was, of course, Yeonjun. Soobin suddenly missed his home pillow, where he would get to do what he was now used to: scream his lungs out - as quietly as possible. Immediately turning on his heel, Soobin decided he could go without coffee.

"Soobin?"

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Soobin considered changing his name, right on spot. He wouldn't have to turn around if he was called Yoonseok. Maybe he could pretend that he was not the so-called Soobin. Who was that guy? Never heard of. He should hurry, his friend was calling him. He needed to walk his fish right now. 

Instead of doing any of that, Soobin suffocated his internal freakout and turned around smiling nervously. Maybe it didn't look much like a smile, though, because Yeonjun seemed a bit startled.

"Yeonjun?"

Of course his voice broke. Why the hell not, right? Yeonjun's little knowing smile was not helping. The boy sweetly waved at him, asking him to go over, and Soobin thought he might be ready to ascend right about now. Not seeing any escape, he resigned himself to his fate and walked over.

"Did you get home well yesterday?"

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"Sure. Very dry. Good umbrella that you had. Have. That you have."

Yeonjun gave him a confused look. “Great.. I’m glad it helped.” 

Would it be too undignified to start crying right now? How would he even get out of that conversation without having a complete breakdown? And then, just as Soobin was contemplating screaming and pointing at something behind Yeonjun so he could run away, something occurred to him.

"Wait. If you lent me your umbrella then how did you…?"

Yeonjun smiled at him and it was so unfair. How could someone be so attractive? He was sure there was a law against being so handsome.

"Wow, you're quick to notice things." Soobin blushed. Yeonjun chuckled, "I'm just kidding, relax. And it was nothing. I live nearby, anyways."

So the updated situation was: Yeonjun drenched himself in the rain to lend his 200-euro umbrella to Soobin, and then this same umbrella got destroyed like it was nothing by Soobin's satanic cat? Could the situation get any worse? Really? 

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," said Soobin, facepalming. 

“It's fine, really. Just don’t forget to give it back.” Yeonjun chuckled, clearly intending that as a cute joke. Except it was not funny to Soobin. Also, it was a bit hard for Soobin to hear anything over his internal screaming.

Managing a strangled little chuckle Soobin nodded, "I won't!"

And with that, this was officially the worst day of Soobin's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Through his whole day of classes, Soobin kept thinking about how in this world he would get out of that situation without needing to move out of the city and change his name, in order to not be tracked down by the Italian mafia; or without losing all his money. How could such a cute and heart-warming situation have turned into this whole mess, and why? 

His teacher was talking about their next assignment, and Soobin knew he should probably be paying attention to what the man was saying, but his mind kept going back to the ruined umbrella. If he was a cartoon, there would probably be smoke coming out of his head from how hard he was trying to find a solution to this mess.

He only noticed the class had ended when the boy next to him stepped on his foot while trying to squeeze between Soobin and the chair in front of him. He blinked and saw a big note on the board, with a folder number and the title of the text the class needed to read for the next couple classes. So, Soobin should stop by the photocopy place to take that, before heading back home to cry a little more. He grabbed his stuff taking a quick picture of the board and headed out, and left.

The store was empty, which was a miracle. Soobin quickly found the right folder and the text he needed, and handed it to the very sweet - please note the sarcasm - lady who operated the copy machines. He sighed, trying once again to figure out a way to fix the umbrella situation, but at this point his brain was already starting to riot. He found himself mindlessly focusing on the papers coming out of the printing machine, looking all the same. And that’s when it came to him. 

“That’s it!” Soobin said out loud, without noticing. 

“What is it?” the not-too-kind lady replied, a confused and slightly annoyed expression on her face. 

“I just need a copy of the umbrella! Yes! Thank you very much, oh my God, you just saved my life” 

The lady simply stared at him, and maybe Soobin's smile was a bit too crazed, because she looked somewhat scared. Then she cleared her throat. "It'll be 50 cents."

Soobin stared, and then remembered where, exactly, he was. He reached into his pocket, looking for the money to give the lady, and then grabbed his copies and rushed out of the room, barely holding back from screaming in joy, for the first time in the last 24 hours.

Rushing into his apartment, calling for Taehyung, Soobin felt like a different person than the gloomy boy that left earlier on that day. He had the perfect plan, and that would possibly (luckly) save his future relationship with Yeonjun.

"Taehyun, I'm a genius!"

Taehyun didn't look impressed. Actually, he looked quite annoyed.

"Why are you always screaming, recently? This Yeonjun guy seems like a bad influence on you."

Soobin promptly ignored him, too excited with his own idea. "A copy," he said, shoving the text he had just copied on the younger's face. "I just need to make a copy of his umbrella."

Taehyun seemed torn between shoving him out of the door and leaving himself.

"You need to make a copy. Of the 200-euro umbrella." Soobin nodded, smiling. "Are you listening to what you’re saying?” 

Soobin's face fell. "Is it a bad idea?"

Taehyun took a deep breath. “And how, exactly, are you planning on doing that, if I may ask?” 

“So... is that store near your building that used to sell everything to ever exist still there?” 

“Soobin… Please, this is not a good idea. I’m telling you right now.” Taehyun warned. 

“Is it? What other option do I have? It’s the perfect plan.”

Taeyun rolled his eyes. “Okay. Alright. Make a copy then.” Soobin shot him a cute, angelic smile, surprised with the sudden approval of his forgery. 

“Great. Would you take me there, pretty please?” 

Taehyun just sighed and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow?"

Soobin beamed at him.

"Stop it, you're just making yourself look suspicious."

Soobin pouted from behind the palm tree, fixing his sunglasses on his face. "I'm hiding," he whined.

"The palm tree is thinner than you, Soobin. Come on, the store is right there."

Glancing around, Soobin rushed to the store Taehyun had pointed out. He ignored the younger's judging looks, making his way through the entrance door, holding the destroyed umbrella on his hand.

The man behind the counter had a sweet smile, which just made Soobin more sure that his plan was great.

"Hello, how can I help you today?” 

Soobin put the shredded umbrella on top of the counter. "This may seem odd, but… do you have any umbrellas that look like this one?"

The man's smile wavered for a second, but he picked up the umbrella. "Oh my, what did you do to this umbrella? Did you give it to a puma or something?"

Soobin groaned. “Look… it was not my fault. My cat did this, and it's not mine, someone lent it to me. So now I’m in trouble, kind of.” 

The man nodded. "Well, I can go check if I have any similar ones on stock."

Soobin shot him a grateful smile. "I would like a golden permanent pen too, if you have it," he said, pointing at the golden logo on the umbrella.

The man chuckled, and Soobin also heard Taehyun snorting from somewhere inside the store. He ignored them.

"I'll see what I can get you."

As the man disappeared into the store, Soobin leaned against the counter, smuggly smiling at Taehyun. “And that’s what I call a perfect plan. Thank you.” 

The universe, however, seemed to really have it out for Soobin. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the little bell at the store's door rang, signaling a new customer. Soobin looked over. His smile fell and he felt all of his blood leaving his face, and maybe his spirit leaving his body.

Yeonjun looked up and his eyes met Soobin's.

"Soobin?"

Soobin was pretty sure he was having a heart attack, and his voice came out way more high pitched than usual.

"Yeonjun?"

By Soobin's side, Taehyun snorted.

"Taehyun," said the younger. "Is this the umbrella guy?"

Soobin shot him a half desperate half deadly stare, trying to send him the message to shut up, through his eyes. 

"Umbrella guy?" came Yeonjun's confused voice, but before Soobin could reply, the employee he had talked to came back.

"This is the closest one I have. Is it similar enough?" he asked, presenting two umbrella's, Yeonjun's destroyed one and another one which would have been perfect, hadn't Soobin's plan just gone down the drain.

"Please, God. Take me now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who has already read this, yes, it used to be for another couple (of another group), but due to recent issues we decided to change it to Soobin/Yeonjun.
> 
> Hope you like it anyways, and comments and kudos are always appreciated ^.^


End file.
